As archivists, how do the stories that we tell ourselves affect our work? Over the course of several months, I investigated a mysterious donation of photographs to the New York Public Library Picture Collection. Hoping to establish orphan work status to clear the images for digitization rights, my research uncovered startling revelations that reshaped my understanding of the images.

Guided by the principles of feminist ethics of care, I moved ahead with newfound purpose and ultimately digitized the collection for INFO-647: Visual Resources Management. I reconsidered the works within the radical empathy framework proposed by Caswell & Cifor in 2016 and sought solutions to translate my findings to conscientious metadata and access.

This presentation will be during Session 3 (6:45pm – 7:25pm) in Room 610 with moderator Dr. Kathy Carbone.

My Google slide deck can be accessed here. If you’d like to read the paper accompanying my project, it’s available on my portfolio.

Cover and slide images by Russell A. Thompson, used with permission granted by the holding repository.

Calista Donohoe

Calista Donohoe

Calista (she/her) is an MSLIS student graduating with an advanced certificate in Archives. Her research interests span visual resources, copyright and provenance, critical librarianship, and semantic technologies. She presently works in the New York Public Library Picture Collection and will intern at Center for Book Arts over the summer.